Top Three Takeaways – October 14th, 2021

Top Three Takeaways – October 14th, 2021

1. No need for a boost. One of the great ironies of the COVID-19 vaccination process is the game the manufactures play. At the onset they wanted to prove they had effective vaccines, and once approved - the most effective vaccine. Most recently, however, the argument has been the opposite. Because selling as many vaccines as possible is the name of the game for the companies behind them, the argument has turned the other way for the boosters. Companies have instead been making their best cases for why they’re now falling short, and boosters are needed. Well, Pfizer had a compelling enough case. It appears Johnson & Johnson will too. Moderna, not so much. The FDA stated the Moderna results “did not meet all criteria” to be authorized for a booster. That’s a fancy way of saying the vaccinations are still working and boosters aren’t needed. Now here’s the irony of this situation. The companies behind the inferior vaccines are being rewarded financially by being able to sell boosters, while the company which produced the most effective vaccine isn’t. While it’s good news for those vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine it does make me wonder what might happen should we ever find ourselves in a similar situation in the future. Will pharmaceutical companies aim to produce products that are just barely effective enough to be worthwhile in the hopes of selling more of them as opposed to developing the most effective products possible?
2. Where’s Hunter? Oh, that’s right, sharing bank accounts with daddy. That’s right, the guy best known for hookers, drugs and $500,000 paintings – because who doesn’t want a piece of what Hunter’s painting – has been found to literally been sharing bank accounts with his dad. For many years. One of the latest revelations from the Hunter Biden laptop(s) investigation is that going as far back as at least 2010, there’s evidence of a joint bank account that Hunter and Joe Biden were sharing. The same Hunter Biden who was magically placed on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, found himself in the middle of Chinese governmental business dealings and now sells art for $500k a pop shared finances directly with his dad. Nope, nothing to see there. Nothing as corrupt as hell there. And here’s a news media which for 3+ years lied about Trump-Russia collusion and touted the impending doom which would emerge for Trump from the Muller investigation, doing what with this bombshell story that Hunter’s corrupt/ill-gotten gains were being funneled directly to daddy? It wasn’t enough that Hunter Biden was the actual person for which the Steel Dosier stories emanated. Nope, there’s now hard evidence of a direct financial link between Hunter Biden and Joe Biden dating back to his early days as Vice-President when the influence peddling began and literally everything else being reported on is a bigger story than this right? 
3. Highly Caffeinated. The COLA, or cost of living adjustment, for Social Security recipients is the largest in decades at 5.9%. While it’s good news for recipients that at least Social Security will keep up with the real cost of inflation, it’s a holy crap reality for all of us that drives home the most instructive points. It’s been 39 years, 39 years – since the United States was recovering from Jimmy Carter’s inflation crisis, that the Social Security COLA has been this caffeinated. It’s also the latest reminder to those still in the workforce that if you’re not making about 6% more money today, you’ve been falling behind. I’m beginning to think economists have supplanted meteorologists as the most likely to retain employment despite being wrong more often than not. Just by living life and buying stuff you know inflation continues to suck money out of your wallet faster than you can probably ever remember. Aside from the COLA news, we received the latest confirmation that inflation has been anything but transitory. Yesterday the Consumer Price Index once again showed that the cost of life was 5.4% more expensive year over year in September. Not only have economists generally been wrong about inflation since the onset of the Biden administration, but they also can’t even seem to get a single month right as they once again underestimated the impact of Bidenflation. Speaking of which, get these bat crap crazy high increases for regular household purchases. Energy prices 25% higher year over year. The cost of eggs, fish and poultry up 11% year over year. If you want beef for dinner that’ll run you 18% more. But hey, remember it’s just temporary right? That’s what they’ve told us every month since March. And yet these economists remarkably manage to retain employment, unfortunately just like the president they commonly advise. But hey, isn’t it great not to have those Trump tweets anymore? This is so worth it, right?